About Waterloo Life Insurance
Waterloo provides a group life insurance plan for employees who have at least a one-year appointment. This benefit provides you with insurance after your first full day of employment. Coverage is originally based on your annual salary at the time of initial employment and is revised with each salary change. All coverage is insured through Sun Life Financial.
Your coverage
The minimum amount of life insurance you must have is one times (1 x) your annual salary. This coverage is referred to as Basic Life.
You may choose to have up to three times (3 x) your annual salary within 31 days of employment without evidence of insurability. If you choose to increase your coverage after 31 days of employment, evidence of insurability must be submitted to Sun Life Financial for approval before coverage can take effect. This coverage is referred to as additional basic life.
You may elect to increase your insurance to up to six times (6 x) your salary; however, this level of coverage requires that you submit evidence of insurability to Sun Life Financial for approval before coverage can take effect. This coverage is referred to as Optional Life.
All employee life insurance in excess of $600,000 is subject to evidence of insurability regardless of the date of application. The overall limit of employee life insurance is $2,000,000.
Spousal life insurance
In addition to employee life insurance, if you have a spouse, you may choose spousal life insurance in multiples of your annual salary up to a maximum of $200,000. This coverage requires that your spouse submits evidence of insurability to Sun Life Financial for approval before coverage can take effect. This coverage is referred to as optional spousal life.
Optional and additional life insurance is not available beyond age 69.
Changing your coverage:
You can assign or change your beneficiary designation in your Workday account. The original, signed paper beneficiary designation form must be mailed to, or dropped off at, Human Resources, located at East Campus 1. The change will take effect once received and processed in Workday.
The following supporting guides may help you (WatIAM required).
- Update or change your beneficiary
- Change your life insurance coverage (increase or decrease)
Adding your beneficiary designation
It's important to update your life insurance policies, including adding your beneficiary, so that in the event of your death, the benefit is paid out correctly.
University of Waterloo death benefits
If you die while in regular full-time service of the University of Waterloo, an amount equal to one month's base salary (no deductions) will be payable to your spouse or estate through continuation of payroll
Additional Resources: